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A birthday, a proposal and a $1 million donation

Leesha McKenny

Rochelle Collis and Babak Moini celebrated their engagement with a $1 million donation to charity. Photo: LifeWithoutAndy/Rocket

When entrepreneur Babak Moini proposed to his partner Rochelle Collis at her 40th birthday on Saturday night, he didn't surprise her with a ring. He surprised her – and the room – with a $1 million donation to charity.

"My exact words were: Rochelle, I'd like you to change your Facebook status to 'engaged'," the founder of a chain of laser clinics said.

The only guests at the couple's Sydney home who knew about the plan were the recipients of the donation, Natalie Moss and her father Bill, the former Macquarie Bank executive who suffers from facioscapulohumeral dystrophy.

"And on top of that he proposed to her in front of us all. It was a beautiful birthday celebration for her, she was speechless."

Ms Collis, who met Mr Moini while working as a supplier of botox and fillers, said yes to his proposal. And now Mr Moini said he wants his romantic gesture to spark a conversation about philanthropy in Australia "and saying no to excess wealth".

"I was going to spend about $10 to $15 million buying a house and it just didn't feel right to me," he said. "I thought I would rather give the money away."

Mr Moini, who plans to set up a foundation along with his fiancee to donate $3 million a year to charity, said too many people waited until after they were dead to give away their wealth.

He said transferring the money gave him "the same feeling of elation" as the birth of his three children from a previous marriage. "I was walking through the streets with a spring in my step," he said.

Ms Moss said Australians were sceptical about philanthropy. "I don't think Australians believe in charity, I think charity's a dirty word. People don't believe that the dollar goes to the cause."

But she said the foundation had set up an app that allowed donors to see that all of their money was going to research – something that was important to Mr Moini.

"What we've tried to do from day one is show the transparency and accountability," Ms Moss said.

Mr Moini said he would sit down with the next charity on his target list to make sure that his donation would be spent on nothing but medical research.

"Rochelle's sister suffers from multiple sclerosis and I would like to make a large donation to them," he said.

"I haven't spoken to them but I am sure they will contact me after you write this."